I have written before about my sixth grade teacher, Otha Woodcock. Her classroom loomed at the end of a long hall at Heard School. We all had to pass through it on our way to junior high and we dreaded it.

Mrs. Woodcock was there to filter out those who could not properly speak and write the English language. One comma fault in a paper and you got an F. She read no further. If you did not learn, you would repeat sixth grade. It was that simple.